Carrie (2026) & Other Mommy

It’s hard not to appreciate Writer/director Mike Flanagan’s devout commitment to the horror genre. He appears game to tackle anything, has a zillion counterintuitive concepts up his sleeve and is even known to occasionally spin semi-gold from stinky straw (looking at you OUIJA: ORGIN OF EVIL). He’s wowed me on many occasions but he also has a tendency to gild the lily and mangle classic tales to the point that they lose part of their identity. I wasn’t crazy about the liberties he took with the great Shirley Jackson’s THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE but I had to admit he delivered a fascinating ghost story of his own (at least until its regrettable tacked on happy ending). His attention to detail adapting Stephen King’s DOCTOR SLEEP is remarkable yet his cringy finale, which involves the Overlook hotel’s tortured spirits teaming up to exact vengeance, makes me want to throw a chair through a window (plus, what kinda nut benches the creepy bear/dog phantom?). I guess I’ll always be…